Starting from the first premise of history: Chinese environmental history’s ideological beginning, progress, and goals

Abstract Over five decades, environmental crises have spurred the study of environmental history and the field has seen immense growth. Chinese studies of environmental history have also flourished but the field is still young and needs to be developed further. Chinese environmental studies should build upon the first premise of history described in the Marxist theory of the relationship between humans and nature. Life-centered historical thinking must consider humans’ natural biological needs. To build appropriate narrative frameworks, we should learn from international methodologies and disciplines like ecology to explore the interactive and complex relationships between human systems and natural systems. With the goal of investigating Chinese “ways of life,” we must strengthen the study of environmental thought and ecological cultural history and find indigenous conceptual language to refine critical theories, improve scholarship, and highlight Chinese characteristics.